Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....Riffle, John S. 1832 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 16, 2006, 7:31 am

Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   John S. Riffle, physician and surgeon, Newtown, was born near Piqua, Ohio, in
1832. He was left an orphan when quite young, but was kindly provided a home in
a family by the name of Hilliard, who resided in Piqua. By an arrangement of his
guardian he was sent to the academy in Piqua three years. After having completed
a scientific course he began school teaching and the study of medicine in 1849,
and was engaged in notable schools in four different states in the Union. He
sailed in 1851 with an invalid brother to the isthmus of Panama, and returned
across the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans; then he went to Houston, Texas. He
taught in the high school there fourteen months, and continued the study of
medicine under Dr. Parker. He started home in 1853, crossing the gulf the third
time. Arriving at New Orleans he found navigation stopped on account of yellow
fever, except that a single steamboat bound for St. Louis would start in three
hours. Having a little time he visited some of the hospitals to see the patients
suffering from the disease, and as far as possible to study its cause and
nature. Deaths at that time were about one hundred a day. He took passage on the
Bunker Hill for St. Louis at four o'clock in the evening. He remained there two
weeks after arrival; then crossed the river to Alton, Illinois: thence went to
Jerseyville, where he continued the study of medicine under Dr. Harriman until
the beginning of the session of the Missouri Medical College of 1853. There he
received his first medical degree at the close of the session of 1855. His last
was obtained at Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, New York. He entered the
Union army as a private soldier in 1861, in the 40th reg. Ind. Vol. Inf. He was
promoted hospital steward, and soon after assistant surgeon, and served as such
until he was honorably discharged at Texanna, Texas, in 1866. Thence he crossed
the Gulf of Mexico, making his fifth passage across that body of water: three
times before the war, and twice during the war. After the close of the rebellion
he located in Newtown, Indiana, in the practice of medicine and surgery, where
he still remains.

Additional Comments:
Richland Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

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